Kuba Raffia
Embroideries

Kuba people in the Republic of the
Congo have made intricately embroidered ritual cloths of raffia. Men weave the plain-weave
ground fabrics on simple vertical looms, then women ornament these
textiles with imaginative
geometric patterning. Cut-loop pile forms the majority of the designs in
these outstanding pieces of African textile art sometimes called "Kasai
velvets"; flat stem-stitch embroidery is used between pile areas for contrast. Some
of the pieces display a "patchwork" appearance; this
is a design feature, as they are NOT fragments stitched
together.

The
pieces on these pages are thought to be 40 to 60 years old, and
they are in good condition unless otherwise noted. They were
used for decoration, for funeral offerings, for tribute, and sometimes as
currency, or Mbal.

For other Sub-Saharan pieces go to African
Textiles. To see textile art from other parts of the
world, go to our HOMEpage.NOTE: Click on the
inventory numbers below for larger photos of
each textile.

For an interesting article on the
production and use of raffia cloth textiles see Patricia
Darish, "Dressing for the Next Life: Raffia Textile
Production and Use Among the Kuba of Zaire," Cloth
and Human Experience, Eds. Annette B. Weiner & Jane
Schneider, Washington, 1989.

George Meurant's book, Shoowa Design: African Textiles
from the Kingdom of Kuba, London, 1986, remains one of
the best publications on the raffia pile embroideries,
though it is now out of print.